The World of Warhammer is set in the Warhammer universe, consisting of several great continents, each with their own distinct civilizations and native creatures. In many ways the Warhammer World is very similar in its geography to our own Earth, although it is actually much larger in area and greater in scope; for instance, the World's Edge Mountains which form the eastern boundary of the geographical area known as the Old World are far taller than any European mountain range.

The Warhammer World is orbited by two moons - the white moon Mannslieb and the dark moon Morrslieb (said to actually be a giant chunk of warpstone). According to the earliest legends of the Lizardmen, High Elven, and Dwarf races, the world's geography and climate was shaped by a space-faring intelligent race called the Old Ones, who possessed god-like powers. They built "Warp Gates" at the north and south poles of the planet which allowed them to travel quickly and nearly instantaneously through the vastness of space between their myriad colony worlds, but they were driven away from the world when the Warp Gates suddenly collapsed, an event which initiated the coming of Chaos into the Warhammer World.

Contents

The Old World is a large geographical area found in the Warhammer World's Eastern Hemisphere, consisting of several human states, such as The Empire (west of which lies the magically-shrouded isle of Albion), Bretonnia, Estalia, Tilea and Kislev, north of which is the Chaos-loyal land of Norsca. To the south are the petty kingdoms, city-states and towns known as the Border Princes. The natural borders of the Old World are the Sea of Claws or Great Ocean to the west, and the World's Edge Mountains which effectively form its eastern border. The Old World is equivalent in culture and technological sophistication to the continent of Europe on Earth at the end of the Late Middle Ages in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and is covered mostly in human nations, with a notable Dwarf population in the mountainous areas.

The New World consists of the continents of Naggaroth, Lustria and the wild areas in between (notably the Isthmus of Lustria, a narrow strip of forested land between southern Naggaroth and northern Lustria). The New World is historically either full of dangerous creatures like the reptilian Cold Ones or barren and desolate. In fact only the Dark Elves, some primitive human tribes and the Lizardmen dwell here. This region is analogous to the Americas on Earth, with Naggaroth being the equivalent of North America and Lustria South America.

The Southlands consist of the tropical Southlands themselves which lie far to the south of the Border Princes, the ancient, tomb-filled ruins of the Kingdom of Nehekhara (also known to the people of the Old World as the Land of the Dead) and the dry, desert land of Araby, north of which is the Badlands and the Marshes of Madness. The World's Edge Mountains continue down the eastern Badlands and run south straight through the centre of the Southlands. These areas and their populations reflect Africa and the Middle East on Earth, geographically, culturally and technologically.

Ulthuan is an enchanting circular-shaped island-continent in the northern Great Ocean inhabited by the High Elves, with similarities to the legendary Atlantis of ancient Greek legend, although some say (based on its geographical location) that it is more similar to Greenland. Many other islands surround Ulthuan and it is politically divided into the sheltered and cultured Inner Kingdoms found on the continent's inner coastline and the wild and rugged Outer Kingdoms which comprise its outer coastline.

The Chaos Wastes are located at the north and south polar regions of the Warhammer World. At the very center of the planet's north and south poles are the giant portals to the Realm of Chaos, another dimension that is entirely separate from the material universe that is also sometimes called the Immaterium, the Aethyr or the Warp. These portals were once the Old Ones' Warp Gates, but they are now the source of the Winds of Magic that blow across the world from the Realm of Chaos. The Chaos Wastes are, at their very edges, a tundra-like, arctic landscape. As one ventures inwards towards the Chaos Portals, the land and its inhabitants become ever more twisted by the mutating and warping effects of raw magical energy - the pure power of Chaos. Daemons, Northmen and savage mutants such as Beastmen inhabit the Wastes. The deep Chaos Wastes near the poles are places unfathomable to most mortal minds, and no sane man has ventured deep into the Wastes and survived... aside from Felix Jaeger, of course.

The Great Ocean has also been called the "World Pond" by the Old Ones and their Slann servants and is a large ocean between the Old World, the Southlands, and the New World and is also the geographic equivalent of the Atlantic Ocean on Earth. The Great Ocean joins the Far Sea at the southern tip of Lustria, and the Sea of Dread at the southern tip of the Southlands.

The Far Sea is a large ocean geographically analogous to the Pacific Ocean on Earth between Cathay, Khuresh and the west coast of the continent of Naggaroth in the New World. Nippon and the Isles of Ethlis are in this ocean, as are the Sulpheret Islands, Turtle Isles and Broken Lands. The Far Sea joins the Sea of Dread at the Gates of Caliph (the southern tip of Khuresh and the northern tip of the southern Chaos Wastes).

The Sea of Dread is a medium-sized ocean that is the geographic equivalent of the Indian Ocean on Earth, south of the Dark Lands and east of the Southlands, west of the Kingdoms of Ind. The Dragon Isles are in the Sea of Dread, directly south of the Dark Lands, as well as many smaller tributaries and some isolated High Elf island colonies.

The Inner Sea is the central sea inside the crescent-shaped island-continent of Ulthuan. It is divided into two major regions; an eastern region called the Sea of Dreams, and a western part called the Sea of Dusk. The High Elf fortress city of Lothern guards the Straits of Lothern which lead into the Inner Sea, protecting Ulthuan's Inner Kingdoms from attack.